Peer Productions

Peer Productions

At a glance

Causes

  • Arts
  • Training / employment support
  • Education
  • Young people

Other details

Geographical remit: 
Local

Objectives

Our charitable objects as detailed in our governing document are:
To promote, improve, develop and maintain public education in, and appreciation of
the arts by, in particular but not exclusively:
(a) the training and education of young actors in the creative arts;
(b) running drama, film and creative arts outreach projects for young people who otherwise may not have access to such activities;
(c) touring educational plays to schools and community centres; and
(d) making educational films and media resources for schools and community settings.

PP’s objectives are:
1. To create thought provoking, lively, engaging and relevant work to inspire young audiences.
2. To enable young people to develop as the artists and citizens of the future.
3. To provide a creative space for young and emerging artists to develop their work.
4. To ensure that this work touches as many young people as possible.
5. To develop sustainable growth for the organisation.
6. To be the pioneering organisation in the combination of peer education and theatre.
7.  To re-imagine theatre in education in the UK.

Activities

Set up in 2006, each year we deliver:
1.  A one year full time free training opportunity for 17 to 23 year olds in peer education through theatre and film. We have delivered this programme since 2007, providing young people with the opportunity to learn acting and facilitation skills, and supporting them to deliver high quality educational plays and films to schools, colleges and community groups. In 2013-14 we formalised the programme into an apprenticeship, offering the Level 3 Community Arts Management apprenticeship,for which we won the Apprenticeship Scheme of the Year at the Toast of Surrey Business Awards. We offered a combined model in which we were both the employer and the training provider and these learners are on track for 100% completion in October 2014. Owing to a change in available funding we are unable to continue with this model but, having invested considerable resource in our infrastructure and upskilled our staff and having seen first hand the added value offered by a robust qualification, we were determined to find an alternative opportunity for young people who want to train with us. For 2014/15 our young people will be working towards the Level 4 Creative Practitioner qualification and will also have the opportunity to lead their own arts project. We are offering 16 places for this year’s programme.
2.  Educational plays for schools, colleges and community groups. These typically tackle key social issues with the interlinking themes of identity, health and crime prevention. Previous topics have included teenage pregnancy, alcohol misuse, eating disorders and homophobia. These plays are designed to provide young people with the knowledge they need to make informed life choices and make a positive transition to adulthood. These plays are very well received by schools and feedback from students shows that they learn new information and feel empowered. Each year we deliver 60 to 80 performances to entire year groups.
3.  Drama and film outreach projects including those for targeted and hard to reach community groups. Historically these have included young Muslim men, Lesbian and Gay teenagers, young carers, young parents, homeless young people, young people with experience of domestic abuse, learning disabled young people and adults with mental health issues. These projects are designed to increase participants confidence, team work and self-expression skills alongside providing them with a high quality artistic experience.
4.  A large scale youth theatre for those aged 8 to 23 years.

Since 2006, we have reached in excess of 75,000 young people across Surrey and the South East. We have a small staff team who all work tirelessly to deliver our projects. All our plays are written by our Artistic Director and resident Playwright Nina Lemon who specialises in using first hand testimony together with methodical and thorough local and national research data to develop plays which can truly affect a positive change in our audiences.
Each PP play has three groups of beneficiaries:
1. Young peer educators who receive our free training. Many of these young people go on to top drama schools and universities including Guildford School of Acting, LAMDA, Central School of Speech and Drama, East15, BSA, LIPA and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, while others go on to university or creative jobs.
2. Young participants who take part in outreach projects. For example, as part of The Teenage Pregnancy Project (our most successful play to date) we worked with four groups of young parents, providing them with confidence building drama workshops. During these workshops they shared their experiences of being teenage parents.
3. Secondary school students who receive visiting productions performed by the actors which bring the young participants’ stories to life. The Teenage Pregnancy Project alone has reached over 30,000 young people across the South East since 2008 and has been

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